The impending sale of the property concerns some of those who use the lake for recreation, fearing the Rancho California Water District will end such uses.

Buck Eilers was bummed when he heard that a Temecula Valley water district was positioning itself to buy about 8,000 acres at Vail Lake, a private resort east of the Southwest Riverside County city, in a bankruptcy sale set to occur in August.

“We’re hoping that some billionaire comes along and buys this place,” said Eilers, 52, who has a membership that permits him to take his boat out on the 1,000-acre lake. “We don’t want the district to buy this because they’re going to put the kibosh on everything.”